Contested words – challenges, limits and models of language

reification in dictionary creation

Friederike Lüpke fl2@soas.ac.uk SOAS, University of London

Many thanks to – merci – diina jogehëfi – danke

All research participants in Agnack, Djibonker, Brin & Essil

Alexander Cobbinah

Samantha Goodchild

Rachel Watson

Alain-Christian Bassène

Chelsea Krajcik

Miriam Weidl

Anne-Laure Vieillé

Caroline Juillard

Abbie Hantgan

The transcribers Alpha Mane, Laurent Manga, Jeremie Sagna, Lina Sagna & David Sagna

Alexander Cobbinah

1. Fula, Sereer 2. Tenda (Basari, Bapen, Tanda, Bedik, Konyagi) 3. Jaad, Biafada 4. Buy (Kobiana, Kasanga), Ñun (aka Baïnounk) (Gubëeher,

Gujaher, Guñaamolo, Guñun…) 5. Cangin (Ndut, Palor, Laalaa (aka Lehar), Noon, Saafen) 6. Wolof 7. Joola (Kujireray, Banjal, Foñi, Kasa…), Bayot, Karon 8. Manjaku, Mankanya, Pepel 9. Balant (Ganja, Kentohe) 10. Bijogo 11. Nalu, Baga Fore, Baga Mboteni

Languages at the Crossroads N

orth Atlantic

Central Atlantic

Genetic affiliation adapted from Pozdniakov & Segerer (in prep.)

Patrimonial language at the Crossroads

Other language at the Crossroads

French (Romance) Kriolu (Portuguese-based) Mandinka (Mande)

What IS a language at the Crossroads?

Localist language naming strategies

Djibonker Ji-bëeher

A place Its language

Baïnounk

Its affiliation with an (ethnic) group and/or a

code

Gu-bëeher Baïnounk-Jóola

U-/Ñan-bëeher

Important: patrimonial

deixis

Patrimonial identity and language based on contrast

Landlords

Strangers

Dualism defines domain in which the contrast is

evoked

In other domains, this

identity remains

invisible and inaudible

Having a patrimonial language conveys land rights

The descriptive challenge: condensing ‘a language’ from variable discourse

Jóola Gubanjalay

Jóola Kujireray

Baïnounk Gubëeher

e-tex

‘to hit’

bu-deg

e-teh

e-teh

JS giving forms in Jóola Banjal

‘to hunt’

ja-saw gu-saw

ka-saw ga-saw

Data from Abbie Hantgan

The solution: language prototypes as reference points

Speaker A

Speaker B

Speaker C

Kujireray

Speaker A

Speaker B

Speaker C

Gubanjalay Speaker

A Speaker

B

Speaker C

Gubëeher

Where to find multilingual language use close to the language prototypes?

Language contexts and their linguistic correlates

Code-mixing Code-switching Fused lect

Auer (1999)

Single language context

Dual/multiple language context

Intense code-switching context

Green & Abutalebi (2013)

Speakers speak Gubëeher

Speaker A Gubëeher with speaker B and Kujireray with

speaker C

All speakers speak

Gubëeher and Kujireray

Code alternation

Single language context

Data on slides 8-10 from Crossroads social network study in official orthographies. Language labels represent transcribers’ judgements.

fr = French gb = Gubëeher kj = Kujireray w = Wolof

Insertional CA

Conventiona-lised loans

Multiple language context

fr = French gb = Gubëeher kj = Kujireray w = Wolof

Insertional CA (?)

En bloc switching

Single language context

Multiple language context

Intense code-

switching context

Code-alternation

Code-mixing

Fused lect

Language contexts and their correlates revisited

Context used to establish prototypes

Intense code-switching context

fr = French gb = Gubëeher kj = Kujireray w = Wolof

Convergent, fused forms

Fused forms in the intense code-switching context

Jóola Gubanjalay

Jóola Kujireray

Baïnounk Gubëeher

fu-giin

fu-jin

DS’ form has been tagged as Jóola

Kujireray

‘bull’ bu-naapi

fi-jjín Prototype data from Alexander Cobbinah, Abbie Hantgan, Serge Sagna & Rachel Watson

Overlaps between prototypes and degree of reification

Jóola Kujireray

Jóola Gubanjalay

Baïnounk Gubëeher

Divergence area is

where a code is reified

Emblematic areas in

phonology and lexicon are

differentiated, other areas

converge

Through different styles (Eckert 2008), speakers metapragmatically (Silverstein 2003) index (patrimonial) identities according to context

How to access the prototypes • Monolingual language modes yielded by

proclaimed interest in a target language are not optimal: – Genres are limited – Speakers are censuring themselves and others – In our context, women are often, children

always excluded • Observed communicative events from the

situational settings ‘single language context’ and ‘multiple language context’ contain language use close to the prototype

Crucial: establish a situational setting that requires maximal code separation.

Recommendations for Dictionaria authors

• Make the sample, settings and speakers you worked with explicit

• Include data from observed communicative events and pay attention to the situational settings in order to avoid: – Purism (Dorian 1994) & ancestral code mode

(Woodbury 2005) – List effects (Mosel 2004) – Ideological erasure of particular speakers, accents,

genres, etc. (Irvine & Gal 1995, 2000) – Skewed impressions on language contact and

multilingualism patterns (Cobbinah, Hantgan, Lüpke & Watson in press)

References Auer, Peter (1999). From codeswitching via language mixing to fused lects: toward a dynamic typology of bilingual speech. International Journal of Bilingualism. 3:4, 309-332.

Cobbinah, Alexander, Hantgan, Abbie, Lüpke, Friederike and Watson, Rachel. In press. Carrefour des langues, carrefour des paradigmes. In: Auzeanneau, Michelle, (ed.), Pratiques plurilingues, mobilités et éducation. Paris: Édition des Archives Contemporaines.

Dorian, Nancy C. 1994. Purism vs. compromise in language revitalization and language revival. Language in Society 23:4, 479-494

Eckert, Penelope. 2008. Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12/4, 453–476

Green, David et Abutalebi, J. 2013. Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 515–530.

Irvine, Judith T. and Susan Gal. 1995. The boundaries of languages and disciplines: how ideologies construct difference. Social Research 62: 967–1001.

Irvine, Judith T. and Susan Gal. 2000. Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.) Regimes of language. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press. 35–83.

Mosel, Ulrike. 2004. Dictionary making in endangered language communities. Language Documentation and Description, 2, 39–54.

Pozdniakov, Konstantin & Guillaume Segerer. In prep. A new classification of Atlantic languages. In: Lüpke, Friederike (ed.). The Oxford guide to the Atlantic languages of West Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rosch, Eleanor H. (1978), « Principles of Categorization » in Barbara B. Lloyd et Eleanor H. Rosch (eds.) Cognition and Categorization, Hillsdale (NJ), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 27–48.

Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication 23, 193–229

Woodbury, Anthony. C. 2005. Ancestral languages and (imagined) creolisation . Language Documentation and Description 3, 252-262.

Reification as “strategic essentialism”

Different planes of identity creation

Nationally

Locally

Polyglossic multilingualism & ethnic federalism

Small-scale Frontier setting

Dualism between insiders/firstcomers and

outsiders/strangers governs ideologies

Symbolic and strategic essentialism governs ideologies

The symbolic power of writing

• Wolof and French dominate the national linguistic market place.

• Speakers of other languages symbolically fight for the recognition of their languages as discrete codes in this polyglossic arena.

Baïnounk orthography workshop introducing the standard orthography

based on Wolof

… that can’t and doesn’t need to reify (in) the language itself

Boundaries evoked by standard language culture…

“No, mélanger ak olof barewul de. Mélanger ak Français, moo bare, mo gëna bare. Mélanger ak olof? No no no no.“ ’No, there is not a lot of mixture [of Casamance languages] with Wolof. The mixture with French, it is a lot, it is more. A mixture with Wolof? No no no no.’

25 Data and photo from Mia Weidl

… languaging in practice

‘Guys of Brin, hi there.’

‘Hey, the monkeys, what are you saying?’

‘What have you been drinking that day?’

‘My guys, I like you.’

c

c

c

c c c

French Jóola Kujireray Wolof English

Contested words – challenges, limits and models of language reification in dictionary creationMany thanks to – merci – diina jogehëfi – dankeSlide Number 3Languages at the CrossroadsWhat IS a language at the Crossroads?Localist language naming strategiesPatrimonial identity and language based on contrastThe descriptive challenge: condensing ‘a language’ from variable discourseThe solution: language prototypes as reference pointsWhere to find multilingual language use close to the language prototypes?Language contexts and their linguistic correlatesSingle language contextMultiple language contextLanguage contexts and their correlates revisitedIntense code-switching contextFused forms in the intense code-switching contextOverlaps between prototypes and degree of reificationHow to access the prototypesRecommendations for Dictionaria authorsReferencesReification as “strategic essentialism”Different planes of identity creationThe symbolic power of writing… that can’t and doesn’t need to reify (in) the language itselfBoundaries evoked by standard language culture…… languaging in practice